Jackman stared at the pictures and wondered if he was perhaps starting to understand Spiller’s rather idiosyncratic selection process. Until this point, he had never quite been able to make sense of Spiller’s actions. The breaking in, the entering of the sleeping occupant’s bedroom, the taking of only one picture had never quite made sense. Now it became a little clearer — he wasn’t looking for his real son but a child to take Teddy’s place. Yes, he wanted a child who would fit the bill, but the break-ins were more likely to be about revenge. Revenge on women who had either befriended or had a connection to the wife he hated. Women who interfered or had failed to do the right thing by his beloved son. When he had stood in their bedrooms at night, he had held their lives in his hands, however briefly. One he had decided to kill. The others . . . he allowed them to live but in constant fear — of the night and for their children’s lives.

Stacey had gone to contact her skipper and put in a request for SOCOs. When she came back into the room, Jackman said, ‘The one thing that united all the women you’ve been talking with, Stacey, was the theft of a photograph, wasn’t it?’

She nodded. ‘That really did put the frighteners on them, the thought of someone stalking the children they loved.’

Jackman nodded slowly. ‘It did, didn’t it? It looks like he’d already selected his new “son.”’ He pointed to the central picture. ‘Davy ticked all the boxes. Spiller didn’t need these photos. He’d already met the children at their schools and had all these clandestine photos that he took himself. He stole those photos simply to make the women suffer — after all, what would frighten a woman more than a threat to a child she loves?’

Stacey heaved a sigh. ‘Makes sense, sir. And it worked — they were terrified for the kids.’

Jackman was sorry Marie wasn’t with him to see this. He would have liked her opinion, though he daren’t ring her. The thought of her on that bike of hers, roaring along the high sea bank and bucking across the deep grooves dug by tractor wheels, frightened the life out of him. The last thing he wanted was to distract her. He took a couple of photos with his phone to show her later and left the room.

‘Can you guys stay on here, or shall I call in another crew to take over from you?’ he asked.

‘I’m fine,’ said Stacey. ‘How about you, partner?’

‘Me too. I’d like to see it through.’